Polygon has a great, spoiler-free review up for Fallout 4.

The things I’m most excited about based on the above is that crafting sounds not just like its been expanded tremendously, but is more critical to success this time around due to the difficulty of the game. In previous Fallout games I’ve always felt that crafting was, at best, a side activity that only made things too easy, rather than being a needed tool to overcome a challenge. Crafting with a purpose is something I can get behind.

The other major takeaway is that the world is aware of itself. Again in previous titles, and also in The Elder Scroll games, it always felt like each town was only aware of itself and maybe the ‘main quest’. If Fallout 4 truly has an entire world that is aware of itself, that’s going to be amazing. The part about companions commenting when being replaced with another companion has me dying to know what they say, as I don’t believe that has ever been done in a game with companions joining and leaving you, but seems like such an obvious addition (notably, its also a addition that is a massive resource effort that may only be minimally experienced by those who don’t swap out companions, which is why Bethesda having a nearly unlimited budget for its games is so important and unique).

The Fallout 4 icon taunting me on my desktop (thanks Steam pre-load) just got a lot more… taunty? Can’t wait.